East Anglian witch trials: 1645-47
Causes
Political/economic context
Tensions between Charles I and parliament over levels of power and authority. Parliament suspended in 1629 for 11 years due to MPs refusing to levy taxation on constituents for war with Scotland over his enforcement of the English prayer book
Abuse of monarchical power after Charles declared ship money due by all subjects, not just coastal counties — political rivalry questions royal authority and perceived ‘evil’ monarch
Religious
Charles I declared his faith to be ‘Anglican’ upon taking the throne, shocked nation considering the puritan faith of his father James I
Charles I married French princess Henrietta Maria from Catholic background and appointed William Lord as his archbishop of Canterbury
Transubstantiation — ambiguous wording in English prayer book. Heretical concerns about changing to the religion of the monarch = suspicion of Charles I supporters
Breakdown of traditional authority
1645: prolonged warfare lead to declining population of local men in Eastern association = greater dedication to victory and radicalised views of good vs. evil (down 20%)
Shift in traditional power relationships (believed women vulnerable to devil in absence of men — e.g Margery Sparham who confessed to entertaining devil’s imps when husband was at war)In 1645, bad omens from the North (royalist) such as woman from Lancashire who had a headless baby and habitual sinner’s body dug up by dogs, stories of women swearing and drinking like men — people in East Anglia radicalised to think royalists were diabolical, due to misfortune
Assizes suspended, lead to vigilantes appearing to enforce law. 42% conviction rate
Economic crises
Crop failure — wet summers and freezing winters. 1646 — wet summer caused wheat and rye to rot with ergot. Price of meat and cheese rose dramatically and wheat rose 20%. Autumn 1645-46 — heavy rain rotted crops, seen as punishment from God and that Charles shouldn’t return to throne
Changing land use — livelihood of tenants and peasants threatened by inflation and enclosure. Increased begging, decreased charity offerings. Landlords evicted tenants to focus on enclosure and agricultural production, protested by families. Wealthy had to pay poor rates and became annoyed when it as they benefited from enclosure and saw idleness as a sin
Isle of Ely, Sir Sandys in 1620s had 4,000 aces in Sutton, 30 families built cottages on the land and residents protested to court of Chancery with 100 signatures to use as common land but failed. Trials in 1647 involved people with connections to earlier unrest
Donations to beggars, poor old women that might take revenge = suspicions
Economic impact of civil war — price of livestock increased 12%, grain increased 15% because of reserves required by both sides. Horses confiscated and food consumed in large quantities, drove up prices but wages did not increased. 1643, new tax called the weekly assessment which was collected 12x higher rate than ship money in Eastern association. Margaret Moone fell into poverty when evicted by a man offering to pay more rent, leading to her to be one of the first witches accused in Manningtree as responsible for death of livestock and crop failure
Escalation
Demographics of witches
300-400 of the 700 accused were killed and trials spread as far as Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire
Only 20% of 124 Suffolk suspects were men. Susanna Stegold, accused of killing her husband, and Priscilla Collit, accused of killing her children
94% of Ely witches signed with a mark, suggesting they were lower class and illterate
Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne
Hopkins became concerned in 1644, after being kept awake by meeting of wtiches
First woman accused was Elizabeth Clarke, disliked by others, had 1 leg and was judged to have bewitched wife of John Rivern
4 search women found devil’s mark, several familiars appeared while she was deprived of sleep. She accused others, such as Rebecca West (who testified against the other witches to ensure guilty verdicts for Hopkins)
July trials in Chelmsford lead to 20 guilty verdicts
120 examined in Suffolk by Hopkins and Stearne, including royalist clergyman John Lowes who was disliked by congregation and investigated due to defending another witch Ann Annson. He was subjected to the swimming test and after relentless torture and interrogation confessed to diabolism and ship sinking — a guilty verdict needed, as clergyman had influence
Hopkins also had 40 women tried in Norfolk in 1645. In Kimbolton, they took advantage of accusations having been previously made but never followed up, and investigated a woman known for cursing as having killed cattle and ducks. 8 tried in Huntingdonshire 1646. Hopkins worked on Suffolk, Norfolk alone (where John Gaule objected to their presence)
1647: Hopkins met with Norfolk assizes and was questioned about his activities, leading him to write ‘the discovery of witches’
Hopkins took the title of ‘witchfinder general’. He and Stearne were paid by town councils to search for suspects. Their search women found rational identifications and they had men who carried out interrogations and watching. Other officials and local magistrates often helped Hopkins and Stearne interrogate. They also both occasionally testified in court
They searched for marks, familiars and other witches using methods such as isolation, searching for ‘witch’s mark’ and subjecting witches to sleep deprivation (watching or walking). The swimming test was used, legitimacy as James I approved of it, and it was also used in St. Neots
Charles I, Anglican, banned torture and didn’t want Catholics to be tortured
Hopkins believed in James I’s ideology of torture and rational identification
Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne’s backgrounds
Hopkins —> son of a puritan clergyman (minister of Great Wenham, believed the ‘world turned upside down’ and had exacerbated his sense of good and evil), had 2 older brothers which meant he wouldn’t inherit from his family and had to make a career. He followed in the footsteps of William Dowsing ‘iconoclast general’ who destroyed idols of Catholicism in East Anglia 1643-44 with parliament permission — meaning they knew they wouldn’t face resistance in these areas
Steane —> puritan, first received the warrant (Hopkins believed ‘crusade’ on East Anglia would go unchallenged) to search for suspects from the Manningtree magistrates Harbottle Grimston and Thomas Bowes. He had suggested Clark was subject to the swimming test
End
Economic costs
Hopkins’ conviction costs — he claimed ‘flat fee’ of 20 shillings regardless of accusations (1/7 of a town’s annual budget)
Inconsistencies in local ledgers, Aldeburgh £40 and King’s Lynn cost £18
Judicial costs — assize judges live decadent lives. John Godbold in Bury St Edmund, in 1645, sent an invoice of £130 for meat list including beef and duck
Custodial costs — witches in Ipswich cost £50 to hold while awaiting trial, ‘bread money’ and taxes collected to pay for trials and the witchfinders
Re-establishment of traditional authority
Ely acquittals — John Godbold oversaw trials where all 3 suspects were acquitted
King’s Lynn acquittals — King’s Lynn trial, which Hopkins visited to give evidence against 9 witches. Miles Corbett had found witches guilty in Yarmouth the previous year, but only 2 convicted by jury
Norfolk assizes — in 1647, compiled questions which Hopkins responded to in book ‘discovery of witches’ and in court. Included ‘was Hopkins a witch?’, ‘why are witches identified for having marks that can be explained naturally?’, ‘questioned use of torture methods that are unreasonable and would lead to false confessions
Role of Minister John Gaule
He appealed to his congregation in Great Staughton that it was personal sins which caused the world to be upside down. He doubted Hopkin’s ‘ability’ to find witches and promoted scepticism of the trials
‘Select cases of witches’ 1646 — affirmed and approved of witch hunting but criticised Hopkin’s methods. He suggested that Hopkins targeted outcasts in villages and suggested witch hunting was ‘lucrative’ for them. He argued witch hunting should be carried out cautiously and the witchcraze was becoming idolatrous as East Anglians praised witchfinders more than God